Review and Giveaway The Island by Jen Minkman

Description:

‘I walk toward the sea. The endless surface of the water extends to the horizon, whichever way I look.

Our world is small. We are on our own, and we only have ourselves to depend on. We rely on the Force deep within us, as taught to us by our forefathers.

If I were to walk westward from here, I would come across a barrier – the Wall. Behind it, there are Fools. At least, that’s what everyone says.

I have never seen one.’

Leia lives on the Island, a world in which children leave their parents to take care of themselves when they are ten years old. Across this Island runs a wall that no one has ever crossed. The Fools living behind it are not amenable to reason – they believe in illusions. That’s what The Book says, the only thing left to the Eastern Islanders by their ancestors.
But when a strange man washes ashore and Leia meets a Fool face to face, her life will never be the same. Is what she and her friends believe about the Island really true?

Or is everyone in their world, in fact, a Fool?

MY REVIEW

The Island is that type of "short story" that I would have liked to be a regular novel

The author has managed to stir my curiosity, and the bad part about it is that the information received, in accordance with the "short story rules", is not enough.

The action, which takes place in a short period of time, has a good rhythm. Goods and evils happen equally offering various possible consequences. The intelligence and even the spirit of survival that characters are looking to develop will shape the denouement. There are also factors that will spice up the end, losses and risks that seem inevitable.

Everything revolves around the human nature, which, whether we like it or not, has an ugly side. And this ugly side, The Island tells us, is deeply embedded in our being, not gained. But where is evil must be the good as well.

By transforming in religion some of... the cultural events, the author will keep the reader very curious about the explanations to come. Even if partly predictable, they are relevant, having in view the story’s premises.

As concentrated as a short story ought to be, The Island is an attractive lesson about survival, about what we can do and be, and about the choices we make.

 I received the book for review as part of Book Tour - Thank you!

Romanian:

The Island este tipul acela de „short story” pe care l-aş fi vrut roman sadea (ori aş fi vrut-o dacă ar fi să ne gândim la traducere...)

Autoarea a reuşit să-mi trezească curiozitatea şi partea rea cu privire la asta este că informațiile primite, în conformitate cu „regulile short story”, nu sunt de ajuns.

Acțiunea ce se desfăşoară pe o scurtă perioadă de timp, are un ritm bun. Bune şi rele se petrec deopotrivă oferind diverse urmări posibile. Inteligența şi chiar spiritul de supraviețuire pe care caută personajele să şi-l dezvolte vor contura deznodământul. Există şi elemente care vor condimenta finalul, pierderi şi riscuri ce par inevitabile.

Totul se învârte în jurul naturii umane care, chiar dacă ne convine sau nu, are şi o latură urâtă. Iar această latură urâtă, The Island ne spune, e adânc înfiptă în ființa noastră, nu e dobândită.

Prin transformarea în religie a unor evenimente... culturale, autoarea va menține interesul cititorului foarte curios de explicațiile ce vor urma. Chiar dacă parțial previzibile, acestea sunt pertinente având în vedere premisele povestirii.

Concentrată aşa cum se cade să fie o short story, The Island e o lecție predată frumos despre supraviețuire, despre ceea ce putem face şi fi, despre alegerile pe care le facem.

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About the author:

Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.
In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack.

'I have always been drawn to writing. My first book was a sci-fi novel at the age of eight, which I painstakingly typed out on my dad's typewriter and illustrated myself. Nowadays, I stick to poetry, paranormal romance, chicklit and/or fantasy. In my home country, I am the first-ever published writer of paranormal romance, and I will gradually make my books also available in English (seeing I have to re-write and translate the books myself, this will take some time!).'

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